Downturn gives smaller firms better shot at MBA students - Washington Business Journal:

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Until this year, namebrand companies easilyg cornered the market onbusiness schools’ top often creating an uphill battle for smaller, less well-know n companies competing in the recruiting process. But with biggerd firms’ hiring plans scaled back, or cut the little guys are seizing the opportunity tocourtr up-for-grabs grads. It’s a shifty for students, too. “(The economy) forces student s to be more open to organizationa they might not have considered in the to different locations and differentwork descriptions, said Shaw Graham, director of career services at the Universitt of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate Schookl of Business.
But the employment picture for MBA studentz is stillless rosy. “We’re not insulated from what’sd going on in the greater economy,” Graham said. As of 72 percent of Katz students acceptexdjob offers, compared with 88 percent last Final numbers will not be available until the end of Graham said. The career servicees team “is making sure students are even more he said, and that there is a “sensse of urgency” about making connections with potentialo employers.
At Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of 96 percent of graduates had been offered a job by graduatiohlast year, with 93 percent, or 125, accepting one in the same Those numbers were down this year, thougy exact preliminary placement figures were not immediately available, said John executive director of the programs at the school. Administrators did see “qa huge jump in the last two beforeMay graduation, he said, and much of that last-minutd increase in offers came from mid-sized companies who had a harder time competing in the past. But that doesn’t mean biggef firms have cut ties altogether.
“Most companies understand the importanced of maintaining a talent pipelineon campus,” said adding that IBM, Deloitte and H.J. Heinz Co. are among Katz’ws traditional recruiters. “Even if that means they’ve had to pull back in the numbee ofpeople they’re bringinbg on, most companies tried to work hard to maintain the relationshio with core schools as a way to plan for the